ben bernanke gave this situation the name fiscal cliff which sounds very dramatic and very scary. but what it is is an act of congress that they actually voted for. 174 republicans voted for this law that would then take effect on january 1st with all these spending cuts in it, and democrats -- 95 democrats in the house voted for it, 74 votes for it in the united states senate, and now congress is afraid of actually going through something that it voted for to occur on january 1st because it all feels too dramatic to them. and so there's something very peculiar. the crisis that congress is facing is can they undo something that they voted for, and can they undo it by new year's eve? >> it's irony and paradox upon irony. remember the reason the fiscal cliff is supposed to be so dangerous and the reason why so many people in washington are worried about the fiscal cliff is it's too much deficit reduction too fast. so all of this takes place against a debate about how to reduce the budget deficit. that's why you get into this theater of the absurd. >> well, and look at the tape you s